Forced Hibernation

Last night when I went to bed it was 35 degrees and a bit rainy. When I woke up this morning, the first thing that I heard on the radio was that many schools were closed, including a 2 hour delay for Hope College. Even the DJ sounded surprised when he said it! The temperature had dropped overnight to -15 degrees, and there were white-out conditions for driving, that one man described like “driving through a glass of milk.” He also said he had to “feel” his way to exit off the highway by driving on the rumble strips. BAD weather– lots of gusting snow and drifts everywhere, not to mention slippery! At 6:20 one of my co-workers also called to be sure I heard that Hope was closed until noon, and that even Chapel had been canceled. I promptly went back to sleep for another 1 1/2 hours. Ah, some good ol’ forced hibernation. I’ve only seen the tow truck (when opening the blinds I saw that a neighbor seems to have gotten stuck, or maybe their car just wouldn’t go) and the plow, and some darling birds still scrounging for seeds at the feeder. Poor things!

JP is out of town… Sacramento, California to be exact. I’ve no idea whether all this craziness will delay his flights back. He has to fly through Minneapolis. He’s supposed to come in around 9:30pm, so I guess we’ll just have to wait and see. I hear there are more storms coming on Thursday night and Monday-Tuesday. So, I’m really hoping JP will be able to get in tonight if not tomorrow during the day. We’ll keep you posted.

The Soup

So, we decided on the Peanut Curry-Squash soup last night. We had it for the first time several weeks ago, and even though I seriously burned my mouth on the piping hot squash the first time, we knew the recipe was a keeper. Last night it was just as good, and probably better for me because I was careful to let it cool a bit before I ate it. I also made bread in my bread maker on the ultra-fast mode for the first time. It calls for 110 degree water, and I had to guess on the amount of yeast because it didn’t call for the variety I had in my house. But it turned out beautifully in just the amount of time it took to make the soup start to finish. 58 minutes. A fabulous start to the weekend if you ask me.This morning involved a recipe I found on 101 Cookbooks, a favorite cooking blog of mine, called Raspberry Mega Scones. They were not nearly as pretty as the pictures shown on 101 Cookbooks, but they sure tasted fantastic. We’ll look forward to sharing their sweet and sturdy goodness at breakfast and brunch gatherings in the future.It sure does my soul good to hibernate in my kitchen! (I think JP likes it too!!)

Hibernation

It has taken some time for the start of this semester to slow down, but here it is Friday afternoon, and I’m realizing that things have indeed slowed down, if only just a bit. This morning, one of our student workers told me that college life can make it difficult to do a decent job of hibernating in the winter. With all of the low temperatures and snow that we’ve been accumulating, we probably should all be hibernating a bit more than we have been around campus. (No snow days in college!)

Anyway, being that life has slowed down for the moment, and in honor of hibernation, I’m taking the liberty of drinking a cup of vanilla tea, and trying to catch up on my stack reading. For now I’ve opted for Girl Meets God by Lauren F. Winner. I’ve just begun, but it is an interesting memoir of a quirky girl on a faith quest. She converts to Orthodox Judaism (not a short or simple journey), and then converts to Christianity. In addition to all of that, the book appears to be filled with many smile-shaped trinkets of stories along the way. I’ll enjoy it.

Tonight, also in honor of hibernation, I’m making soup. I haven’t decided which soup, but we did some grocery shopping last night and have the ingredients on hand for at least three soups. Maybe we’ll have soup all weekend long. That would also be good for hibernation!

Hope you all have some quite, yummy, indoor moments this weekend– especially if you live in the colder parts of the world!!

Update

This was taken just a few hours ago on our way to work!

On the bright side…   I am developing some sweet deltoids

What Accumulation?

I think today will be a good day to shovel. You guys in India will appreciate it… this is how much accumulation we’ve had…:)

I have had a little bit of a crazy travel schedule in 2008 and that will continue to heat up until it simmers down in March. It has been hard to keep these trips separate as they all seem to melt into one big trip. I had my first official meeting with my contact in the Philippines today. Its finally beginning to become more real. I did not know till today that the Filipino currency is the peso… like Mexico. I am not looking forward to Baalut… but weird as this might sound, I am curious. If you don’t know what that is, try googling it. I am also looking forward to exploring both Manila and the island of Mindanao by myself.

I am off to California next week for a short trip. That might be a little shock to my system. I think my body gradually adjusts to the winter and every time I get exposed to how much warmer life is in other parts of the world… my body begins to rebel! I’ll take my chances though… should be fun.

Off to shovel today!

A new year… a new look

Welcome to our new home! Katy and I made the switch. We liked our old blog but you could only do so many things with it. We had ambitious aspirations to add pictures and videos but Msn Spaces definitely limited us. This blog also enables everybody to leave a comment (if you choose to so desire… we’d really like that!). I hope you are having a wonderful weekend wherever you are. Please update your bookmarks and keep stopping in!

P.S. We have copied our blog entries from this year… our old entries will still remain on our old blog for a while before we shut it down.

Look Mom, No Eggshells!

(Originally written on January 11)

I once helped my mom make a cheesecake while I was home on break during college. It was the first cheesecake that I ever helped with, to my recollection, and I was nervous but proud to be making something so “difficult.” My mom used her food processor to mix the cheesecake filling,which I thought was a very good idea. The only problem was that I was not then, nor am I now, very good at breaking eggs open. I often end up smashing the egg more than cracking it, and then I have to stick my finger into the “crack” (or smash) and pull the eggshell apart. This may or may not result in eggshell falling into my batter or dough.. it just depends what kind of mood I’m in. So anyway, on my first cheesecake-making day I was a little nervous about the eggs because I had to break one at a time, and then send it down through the chute on top of the food processor. My mom encouraged me to tap the egg right on the chute to crack it, and then drop the egg in. It went well for the first two eggs, but on the third egg, my fingers shook a little and that caused the WHOLE egg, shell included, to drop down into the food processor. This may have been a salvageable mission, had the food processor not been running! We tediously and painstakingly tried to collect all of the pieces of eggshell from the filling, but worried that there were more than our probing fingers could find. We held our breath as it baked, and sighed happily at its beauty after it cooled. And then it came time to slice it, and eat it… and I promise you… each and every bit crunched. Each and Every bite. I couldn’t bring myself to eat cheesecake, especially plain cheesecake, for many years.

So, today is my friend Lori’s birthday– HAPPY BIRTHDAY, Lori!!– and I decided that I wanted to make her a cheesecake to top off our dinner last night. I used that very same tried and true recipe from years ago, and stayed far, far away from my food processor. (It sure took a long time to get it nice and smooth with a hand mixer!!) This cheesecake looked exactly the same as the last one I made, but thankfully, it was satisfyingly un-crunchy!

So, JP and I thank you, Lori, for having a birthday and restoring our faith in our cheesecake baking and eating skills. Have a birthday any time you’d like- we’ll gladly eat cheesecake with you.

And, look Mom, no eggshells!

Split Personality

(Originally written on January 4)

It’s finally thawing out today. I do not like temperatures that are flirting with single-digits (Fahrenheit). 2008… almost 12 years since I first entered the US. Having lived in the US, I have been very aware of my “split personality.” This is definitely not a new concept to those who know me or those who have spent a significant time overseas, away from their home. I termed this cultural schizophrenia and have been quite self aware when it comes to symptoms manifesting themselves. For example, when I am in the US, I can drive on the right-hand side of the road, speak with a mid-west American accent, negotiate my way though the firm hand-shake and eye-contact rule, eat easily with a knife and fork, etc. When I travel to India, the Indian-persona takes over. I am able to speak English like a South-Indian. My Indian languages lose their rust almost immediately, I can drive my motorcycle on the streets of Bangalore, and I even begin to dream in different languages. I become acutely aware of this switch when my wires get crossed. This happens when I watch an Indian movie in the US, or speak to an American in India, etc etc. I have always been fascinated by this unique phenomenon but I am even more intrigued now. In a little over a month, I will travel again. This time, however, my destination is not India (at least not initially). I travel to the islands of SE Asia, to the Philippines. I am going to be attending a conference there for a week before making a stop in India on my way back to the US. What I am intrigued about most, besides the joys of entering a new culture, is finding out which part of my split personality will make an appearance.

Will it be the “American” JP or the “Indian” JP? I am excited to find out. My prediction is that they will both make an appearance… at varied times. Lots to journal about as I wonder!

Cotton Balls are Very Quiet

(Originally written on January 1)

Happy New Year, one and all!! I was just remembering last night as we watched the ball drop, that when I was a kid I always used to have a wild sensation inside me when I was waiting for the new year to begin. It was like I wanted to hold my breath and let it out at the same time. I didn’t want to let go of the previous year, but I couldn’t wait for the new one. It made me hyper and jumpy. Well, I hope that you all have entered into the new year with eager, expectant looks on your faces, or a hopeful smile, or a giggle in your pocket. You never know what’s coming around the bend– look for it!

Thankfully, my new year has started in the best possible way for me… quietly. I’ve had a bit too much rushing lately, and I’m talking long before the Christmas rush. I feel like I’ve been on the go with no end in sight since about 2005. I needed to start this year quietly, with the snow gathering in poofy cotton balls on the trees outside, and with a lazy frozen pizza for lunch that smell like popcorn, and tasted like simplicity. JP and I took a long, long walk in the snow this morning because we’re dog sitting for a dog who could walk for days. It sure was a nice walk. And now there’s not much of a plan. Thank goodness for a day to just be quiet.

I got swept up by a whirling-dervish this past fall, and didn’t get dropped back down until… well, until now. Whirling-dervishes are pretty exciting to be a part of, but they’re also exhausting and leave no head space for writing blogs. JP tried his best to be the heavy and force me to sit down and share my thoughts on life with you, but he’s a little too sensitive and nice to be very effective at that. He tried whining, whimpering, crying, and sulking. He tried guilt. He tried to leave me alone. But, the very best attempt to get me to write was his desperate bribe. The day after Thanksgiving, JP promised that if I wrote one blog entry per week, for one year, he would get me my very own mini-wiener dog!! Tempting… We’ll just see if it works. I’m typically not one to fall for bribes. However, I did clarify to see if he meant 52 blog entries, or one actual entry each week. He was nice. He said 52 entries total.

So, Happy New Year! Here’s to quiet days, and wiener dogs. Here are some pictures from Christmas break including our friend Betsy’s 30th birthday party with chocolate fondue; Amy, Dad and JP at home for Christmas; and Bo the dog!